Balanced Play › Setup guides › Windows PC
Windows PC: the setup, then the link
On Windows there’s no parental service to borrow, so Balanced Play runs a small agent on the PC itself. It meters and enforces by process — so it can limit games without ever touching homework, the browser, or Teams.
You’ll need, before you start
- A Balanced Play account with this child already added — create one here if you haven’t
- Windows 11, or Windows 10 (the agent still runs there, though Microsoft ended support in October 2025)
- An administrator account on that PC — the installer needs it
- A few minutes at the child’s PC, not just on your phone
One PC pairs to one child. A standard install meters the whole machine and attributes it to the child whose code you enter. If two children share a PC and you need their time kept separate, that needs a per-Windows-account pairing which the app doesn’t offer yet — get in touch and we’ll set it up with you rather than have you discover it later.
Part 1 — prepare the PC
Nothing to set up with Microsoft or Valve. The only preparation is on the Windows accounts — and it matters more than it sounds.
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Give the child their own Windows account, as a standard user
Settings → Accounts → Other users → Add account. Then leave it as a Standard user — do not make it an administrator.
An administrator can stop the agent. If the child plays on an admin account they can end it or uninstall it, and you’ll simply see the PC go quiet on the dashboard. A standard account can’t. This one setting is the difference between a limit and a suggestion.
Part 2 — install and pair
Do all of this at the child’s PC, signed in as an administrator. Leave the pairing code until last — it expires while you’re working.
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Get the installer onto that PC
On the child’s PC, open app.getbalancedplay.com in a browser and sign in as yourself, then go to your child → Link a platform → Windows PC and download
BalancedPlaySetup.exefrom there. (Emailing yourself the link from your phone works just as well.) -
Run it
Windows may show a blue “Windows protected your PC” box — choose More info → Run anyway — and then a permission prompt that may mention an unknown publisher; choose Yes. Nothing secret ships inside the installer; the pairing code is the only credential involved.
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Now read the pairing code, and enter it
With the install finished, go back to the Windows PC screen in Balanced Play and read the short code. It expires — there’s a countdown — so get it last. If it has already run out, the button reads Get a code; while a code is still live it reads New code. Enter it when the agent asks.
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Check what counts as ordinary computer use
Games are found automatically — the agent detects installed titles, and reports anything new it doesn’t recognise. The “Choose which apps count as game time” screen is the opposite job: a short list of non-game apps (browsers, Discord, Spotify, Netflix, Roblox) that don’t count by default, which you can opt into counting if you want them inside the budget.
Steam games are deliberately skipped by the PC agent, so they can’t be counted twice. That means if your child plays on Steam you must also link Steam — link only the PC and Steam titles are metered by nothing at all.
What the agent does once it’s running
It meters by process, not by screen. Minecraft, Epic titles, emulators, standalone games. A Word document open next to a game doesn’t cost a minute.
It keeps enforcing when the network is gone. The agent holds its own copy of the budget and the bedtime windows, so pulling the cable or rebooting doesn’t buy extra time.
It pools with everything else. PC minutes join the same daily budget as the Switch, Xbox, PlayStation and Steam.
If something goes wrong
The code expired before I could type it
Tap Get a code on the Balanced Play screen (it reads New code if the current one hasn’t expired yet). Codes are deliberately short-lived because they’re the one credential in this flow — which is why it’s worth installing first and fetching the code last.
Windows blocked the installer
Windows flags installers it hasn’t seen often. More info → Run anyway, then Yes at the permission prompt. You need to be on an administrator account.
A Steam game isn’t being counted
Expected — the PC agent skips Steam-installed titles so they aren’t double-counted. Link Steam as well and they’ll be metered there.
A non-Steam game isn’t being counted
The agent detects games automatically but won’t know every title on day one. Give it a session or two; anything it doesn’t recognise is reported back for classification. If it’s a browser or a media app, it’s on the opt-in list instead — see part 2 step 4.
The PC went quiet on the dashboard
First the obvious: the PC has to be on and online to report. If it’s been running and is still quiet, the agent was stopped or uninstalled — only possible from an administrator account. Check the child’s Windows account is a standard user.
Still stuck? Get help — tell us which step and what you saw.